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I don't want to read what you didn't write

1070 points · 460 comments · mooreds

  1. hatthew · · focus · HN ↗
    As I have been saying for years:

    Writing is fundamentally the transfer of information from your brain to my brain. If you have 1000 bits of semantic information you want to transfer, you can't give 300 bits of semantic information to an LLM and have it fill in the remaining 700, because it doesn't know what those 700 bits are. If it's able to guess those 700 bits correctly, then they aren't true semantic information, and you really only have 300 bits you want to transfer. You might as well transfer those bits to me directly, rather than having the LLM add on an extra superfluous 700 bits that I then have to filter out.

    1. andsoitis · · focus · HN ↗
      I like your premise but I will point out that communication isn’t just about conveying information.

      It is often about persuasion and that sometimes benefits from framing effectively, which I think an LLM can help with given the key points you’ve got.

      1. hatthew · · focus · HN ↗
        Using an LLM to write something persuasive is a good way to persuade me that you don't care about the topic personally, and therefore I probably shouldn't care what you or your LLM think.
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